Basel to Antwerp May 21- June 9, 2008
Subject: Day 1, May 21, River Cruise 2008 – “213 down 787 More to See”
213 down 787 more places to see in Holly’s book “1000 Places to See Before You Die”. This thing called retirement isn’t a bad gig; I am really starting to like it and can’t even imagine ever going back to work again. We are off on another three week journey though Europe. As with our past trips we are keeping a daily travelogue of our activities to help us organize our pictures and thoughts when we return home. Those of you who have seen the books Holly puts together after each trip will understand the importance of the daily log. As always, if our e-mails start to get too boring please use the delete button or e-mail us and we will take you off the list.
At this moment we have cleared airport security and are having Bloody Mary’s, at least I am having a Bloody Mary, its too early for Holly, but what the hell it’s five o’clock somewhere, in the Delta Crown Room at the Orlando Airport awaiting our flight to Atlanta where we will catch a ten hour all night flight to Zurich Switzerland arriving at 7:45 am Thursday 22 May. I hope they have a good wine selection in Business Class; it is amazing how well I can sleep on an airplane after a couple of bottles of wine. This year we will be spending four days touring Switzerland before boarding Viking’s River Cruise Ship Viking Sun which will then become our home for 15 days as we travel the Rhine River partaking in excellent German and French wines and food as well as great German Beers “Ya das is Goode Bier”. We will be making daily stops at cities in France, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium, ending up in Antwerp, Belgium “The Diamond Capital of the World”. I hope they take plastic; actually I would probably be better off if they don’t take plastic. We are then going on to spend four days in Paris before we fly home on June 11th. We have reservations at the “Le Jules Verne”, Chef Alain Ducasse’s new five star restaurant on the upper level of the Eiffel Tower to celebrate our 39th Wedding Anniversary, about a month late but worth the wait for the expected ambiance. It is an extremely hard restaurant to get into and we had to make our reservations two months in advance and secure them with a credit card. It was a little disconcerting giving our credit card number to some Frenchman who didn’t speak English, how rude of him. Our e-mail confirmation is in French, but I have faith. Hoping for a fabulous meal, did I mention that it will probably include wine? Whoever said that I am not a hopeless romantic?
This year I beat Holly to the punch and have already booked a tour in Switzerland where we will go to Lucerne and then ascend 10,000 feet up the Alps in a rotating sky car hanging on some cable. We are putting a lot of faith in Swiss cable workmanship. This tour had to be booked 72 hours in advance and they will provide us with parkas and boots, which are really foreign objects to us Floridians. I am sure Holly will have numerous other tours booked with the concierge at the hotel within 20 minutes after checking in. As always, she is determined to see everything. This is a big change from my old Air Force days when all we wanted to do was see the inside of the nearest bar after arriving in a strange city or country.
The next e-mail should be from the Hotel Marriott, Zurich, if everything goes as planned.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 2, May 22, 2008 – Arrived in Zurich
We had a great flight over and arrived right on schedule, 7:45 am which is 1:45 am EST. Actually watched a great movie on the flight over, Charlie Wilson’s War, highly recommend it. I had requested early check in at the Zurich Marriott but our room still wasn’t ready yet so we are killing time in the hotels executive level lounge while awaiting our room. My body doesn’t know whether to have a cup of coffee or a beer with the breakfast that is being served, both are available. The first day is always the hardest and our bodies should be back on schedule tomorrow as we start trying to take every tour available. Today will be a light day, after we get in our rooms we will probably go check in for Saturdays Lucerne Alps tour and give them our parka sizes and then find the railroad station and get our train tickets for Sundays trip to Basel and joining the ship. Have the feeling it is going to be an early evening.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 3, May 23, 2008 - Amazing What a nights sleep will do
It is really amazing what a full nights sleep will do after being up 24 hours. Today we feel great and are ready to tour everything we can find. Yesterday after getting into our room at 11:00 am and taking an hour practice nap and shower, we were out exploring the fascinating city of Zurich. After a traditional Swiss Fondue meal and a glass of wine, we took a boat tour of Lake of Zurich and then did some window shopping along “Bahnhofstrasse” Zurich’s famous shopping mile which is rated as one of the five world’s most attractive and expensive shopping areas in the world rivaled only by streets in Paris, Tokyo, New York and Geneva. This makes two cities for Switzerland. There were watches in the store windows with $49,000 price tags and ladies skirts and blouses priced at $8,000. Just when we start to think we have arrived in this world, we are shown how poor we really are. Somebody is paying these prices or these stores couldn’t remain in business. Crime is obviously extremely low in Zurich because the store fronts, loaded with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of diamonds and watches, are not covered with bars or shutters even at night although I think a smash and grab would not be a good idea if I every want to see the US again. Switzerland and more specifically Zurich are obviously influenced by the banking industry. The city is spotless, easy to get around and the people are very friendly.
Our room overlooks the Limmat Canal and you can see the Lake as well. With Tom’s description of the city, you can guess none of you will be receiving gifts from Zurich. My feeling on why the people are so friendly; they actually believe pedestrians have the right of way in cross walks unlike the other cities of Europe I have navigated, plus there is not the throngs of bicycles to run you over, is due to the fact that they figured out making money was better than making war. This is one of the few cities in Europe that we have visited that has not been bombed by the Germans, Russians, or US.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 4, May 24, 2008 - We have now adjusted
Yesterday morning we donned our best European Casual look and headed out to do some shopping, but not on Bahnhofstrasse where you can find very little under $500 except the Chocolate. However, the pedestrian walking street in old town, Niederdorfstrasse, had some reasonably priced souvenirs. After all we can’t take our first trip to Switzerland without buying something to remember the trip by, plus who wants light luggage to cart around. The cleanliness of Zurich and all of the establishments continues to amaze me, everything is spotless. People take their dogs everywhere, and I have yet to se a single dog pile anywhere. I think they train them to use the toilet before they leave home. We have also not seen any homeless or panhandlers. After doing some morning shopping, we went to the train station and bought our tickets for the trip to Basel on Sunday to meet the boat. A train leaves every 30 minutes to Basel, and it is about an hour train ride so it shouldn’t be a problem. In the afternoon we took a four hour city tour and learned a little of the history of Zurich and the Swiss economy. The average person living in Zurich makes about $5,000 an month with $2,000 going for rent on a two bedroom apartment. Very few people own homes other than the wealthy employed in the insurance or banking industry because there are no homes available under $1,000,000. Everyone is required to pay for mandatory health care and taxes are high so our guide considered the majority of people living in Zurich making $60,000 a year the working poor, and they all receive some government social benefits. Crime is nearly non existent and high ranking government officials ride public transportation without body guards.
Last night, we went to an old Swiss Restaurant based on a recommendation of the hotel. It was a non touristy place and the atmosphere, food and wine were excellent. After dinner we stopped at a Swiss Chocolate store on Bahnhofstrasse for a couple of Champagne Truffles for dessert. The Swiss do know how to make chocolate. We are staying at the Zurich Marriott, and I was able to book an Executive Level Room at a Government Military weekend rate, so we are paying less than a regular room for Executive Level privileges. Retired Military does have its benefits, they can’t tell an active from a retired military ID card. The advantage of the Executive Level Room is the 24 hour a day use of the Executive Level Lounge which includes for free a full European Breakfast every morning, free snacks beer, soda and Evian water all day, and free unlimited full bar including wine and Hors d’oeuvres every evening. The way Holly drinks water and wine this is probably saving us $200 - $300 a day. You notice I said Holly; I just have an occasional drink or two. We priced breakfast downtown and 2 croissants and a cup of coffee cost around $20, a glass of wine or beer $7.00, so you can see the advantage of a free breakfast and drinks.
Today we go to Lucerne and then ride a cable car 10,000 feet up the Alps, and after raining last night it looks like the weather will be beautiful. The weather has been great so far, however this is the first day that it has been clear enough to see the Alps from our room.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 5, May 25, 2008 - It is all down hill from here
It is all down hill from here both literally and figuratively. The journey to the top of Mount Titlus at 10,000 feet was probably one of the best tours we have ever taken and far exceeded our expectations of what it would be when we booked it back home. We lucked out and had a clear day and the view from 10,000 feet was nothing short of spectacular. The first trek up the mountain was a fleet of small cable cars and that trip took 25 minutes with a short stop in the middle for those adventurous types that wanted to bike or hike from there. We rode the car up. Then everyone out of the small cars and into a bigger cable car that can hold up to 80 people at one time. We did the crammed cable car thing on the tour the day before so luckily, since skiing is winding down, we only had about 20 people which gave us a view that was again amazing. In this car you ended up about 8,000 ft up. Yes, you could get out and hike or bike from there. We saw a lot of energetic types doing just that. Not us! The third and last trek was in the Rotair cable car. The floor rotated so you could view the mountain from all sides. The entire trip took about 45 minutes to reach 10,000 ft., everyone out for fun in the snow. I had forgotten how cold that stuff is. We were going to ride the ice flyer, but suddenly the visibility went to zero, so our better sense said maybe lunch would be a better idea.
The bus ride was something else. Our driver looked a little worn out and hung over and the zigging and zagging on those mountain roads was quite something. I was glad our guide kept talking to the driver to keep him up. We learned that just last week the guide and same driver had to put chains on the wheels of the bus. At least we had dry pavement.
We are checking out of the hotel in about 20 minutes to catch the train to Basel. The train station is only about a 20 minute walk from the hotel and over the years we have become proficient enough in packing for three weeks that we can now manage our luggage on a 10 minute walk and 1 hour train ride. Remarkable progression since our first big European adventure in 2004. The next e-mail should be from the Viking Sun if everything goes as planned and we can find the ship.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 6, May 26, 2008 - Zurich to Basel
On train trip from Zurich to Basel was without incident, the train was suppose to leave at 10:02 and it left at 10:02. The Swiss are sticklers for things and people being on time. We rode the train like pros, grabbed a Taxi at the Basel Train Station and lucked into a driver from Turkey who almost spoke English and arrived at the ship in time for lunch. We are now settled into our room for the next two weeks.
My thoughts on Switzerland! Talk about a “green” country. Everything is clean and unpolluted, and I believe they plan on keeping it that way. The country is 24% forest and they never chop an entire region of forest down and rebuild the entire thing from scratch like we do in the US because they realize they are destroying animal habitat. They even go into a forest and decide exactly what trees can be taken or not. The forest is important part of the country as there are many mountains and without the forest there would be considerable erosion. Switzerland is 4% agricultural and even though you may own the land, you cannot sell off part of it even though it is your land. Only the government can say yes or no to a sale. Industrial areas must be outside of the city. Residential is also strictly regulated. An amazing system and no one breaks the law because the fines are astronomical. For example, the mass transit is plentiful in the cities and you are not always asked for your ticket. However, if caught without your ticket it is an $800 fine. The moral is; buy a ticket.
Most of the farms raise brown Swiss Guernsey cows because they use the milk for their chocolate of which the Swiss are famous for. Each cow wears a bell. We asked why because today the farmers just hot wire a patch of grass for them and then move them from area to area, so it isn’t like the cows are going to wander off. There are no dangerous wild animals in the forest either. He said “tradition” is the reason for the bells. Each bell has its own note, and when the entire herd is together they create a symphony. We did hear it in our cable cars, and I hope I caught it on video because it is truly amazing. Each farmer knows his own heard by the symphony he has created with his bells. Now if I were a cow, I may have a differing opinion about the music because I think the constant clinking of the bell would drive me nuts.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 7, May 27, 2008 - On the MV Viking Sun
While my thoughts are still on Zurich, we saw a Montessori school in town during our city tour. We were told that no single dwelling would sell for less than a million. This house was certainly more than the normal house. It was three stories and beautiful. The playground was about two or three lots worth and had extremely interesting items. It had an old tractor for climbing and all sorts of jungle gym equipment. It had what looked liked an archeological dig plus its own garden. This is what I could see from a quick glance. I wish I could have seen the inside. It would have been most interesting.
Today was tour of Basel – not my favorite Swiss city. I am so glad we spent our time in Zurich which is the largest Swiss city with 390,000 residents. Some interesting Basel trivia! Yes, the Romans built the city and installed a water system. You can’t travel anywhere here without learning more about the Roman Empire. The streets were named for what was sold on that street. The city itself came to be what it is today during the spice trading days which of course is around Columbus’s time. As you know that is why he ventured to the New World looking for spices. Rather amazing.
The ship always has one course which is from the local area. Today for lunch they had Grand ma’s drop noodles and fried onion rings. The dumplings or noodles were very heavy and covered with a thick butter, cream sauce. Not low cal. I guess when one is freezing, you need a hearty meal, although the weather so far has been warm with some spotty thunderstorms today, but not enough to ruin anything. Tonight I am going to have another Swiss meal of fried “wheel.” The Swiss cannot say the sound for “v” so you have “wheel for “veal,” “walleys for valleys” and today we learned about a “conwent instead of convent.” Of course I cannot speak their language at all so not complaining. Today, I also heard the best reason ever for the Protestant Reformation. It was politically much, much cheaper because you did not have to pay off the Catholic bishops. Makes perfect sense.
We got under way last night and just docked in Breisach, Germany which is across the river from Colmar France. This morning we will be touring the Black Forest, a cuckoo clock factory, and the obligatory church. This afternoon we will cross the bridge into France and explore Colmar. Last night at dinner we met an extremely interesting gentlemen, he retired in Alaska as a major, and he and his wife went into the Alaskan outback to live for 16 years. He built his house; it had an outhouse, no plumbing or electricity, had to chop wood for heat and had one neighbor five miles away and the next one 35 miles away. They hunted for their food and flew 200 miles to Anchorage every three months to pick up staples. He had a float plane, ATV and snow mobile for transportation, and had to stock up a years supply of fuel once a year when annual rail road train came within 40 miles. He hauled the fuel in 55 gallon drums behind his ATV. He didn’t have to put up with any of our Florida drivers. He now lives in Arizona and has written a book about his experiences, which we plan to buy.
Tom & Holly
Day 8, May 28, 2008 - Breisach Germany and Colmar France
Toured from 9:00 am until 6:00 pm yesterday and then had a French dinner and French entertainment on the ship until late last night, at least late for us, so this email is short. In the morning we docked at Breisach, Germany and went to the Black Forest which was beautiful, stopped at a cuckoo clock factory where people from the ship were buying $1,500 cuckoo clocks like if they didn’t they would be tormented by the cuckoo clock gods for the rest of their lives. Holly and I went and had some authentic Black Forest Cake and good regional wine instead. I think a better choice. After returning to the ship for lunch, we crossed the bridge over the Rhine into Colmar, France, an old picturesque midevil town that had people living in 800 year old homes. A beautiful city that completely survived the war. Almost everything in Germany is new since 1945. Breisach, Germany was 90% destroyed during the war while the French cities just across the river Rhine went untouched. After dealing with some of the French on this trip I sometimes think maybe we bombed the wrong country, if they didn’t make such great wines and cheeses. Just a thought! The Germans think the French are stupid among other reasons because they make their beer with corn; good beer needs to be made with hops. Today we are docking at Kehl, Germany and then spending the day in Strasbourg, France, another midevil town that is supposed to be charming and picturesque. We are planning to eat lunch in town at a quaint French Café, probably wine and cheese, because it looks like it is going to be a beautiful day.
Later this afternoon, I will write what our guide told us was the difference between the French and German life style. Last night we met an 86 year old man who loved his salt. He probably used half of the shaker because he, at first, couldn’t get it to work. Took the entire shaker apart like a frustrated engineer. When asked, he said he had low blood pressure, and intended to eat all of the salt and sugar he could. He was a lawyer and extremely funny. Our table which included our Alaskan author friend closed the restaurant, so I always suppose that means we enjoyed dinner.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 9, May 29, 2008 - Heidelberg and Rudesheim
The difference between life in Germany and France! The Germans spend about an hour eating a huge breakfast and the French run out of the door; stop at a coffee shop for a quick cup of coffee and possibly a croissant with car left running. The Germans get to work about 8:00 and the French a few hours later. The Germans have 30 minutes for lunch and the French have three hours complete with wine, cheese and lots of other goodies. Of course after that, the French need a nap and then return to work about 5:00 just when the Germans are getting home. The Germans eat a reasonable dinner and the kids are in bed by 8:00. The French again spend about three hours for dinner when they return home at 8:00 and then go out on the town, kids and all, and finally get to bed about midnight.
As to “green” the Germans have all sorts of environmental and building codes. Of course, since they had to rebuild everything anyway, it made this easier. The French, on the other hand, keep their flimsy thin windows, narrow winding staircases, and anything else they want to have.
Oh, Dad, this is for you. The Germans have no speed limits at all on the Auto Ban so everyone is a Florida driver. You can go just as fast as you want, the bus was doing 80 mph and being passed by cars doing 100 – 120 mph. Amazing, they seem to have fewer accidents because people actually try to get out of the other ones way and don’t hog the fast lane.
We docked in Kehl, Germany yesterday morning and crossed over the bridge into France for a tour of Strasbourg, which is where the Headquarters for the European Union is located. After a short tour with a fantastic French Guide, proves all French aren’t rude and obnoxious, and after the obligatory church tour, we went off shopping. When touring the Strasbourg Cathedral, she mentioned how the French were liberated by the allies. However, the cathedral got inadvertently bombed. The cathedral tower, which extended through the clouds; could be seen and was used for offset bombing of Germany on the other side of the Rhine. She said it was bombed by the Americans. Everything we see in the German stores seems extremely well made while in the French stores, most of it looks like junk made in China. For lunch, we stopped at a small outside French Café for some outstanding cheese and wine, the French really know how to enjoy lunch. We then went back over the bridge for a German Pretzel and a good German Beer. Life is good. Today we are going to Heidelberg in the morning and early afternoon and then docking in Rudesheim in time for us to have dinner along the Drosselgrasse a pedestrian only street lined with restaurants that we discovered during our last river cruise. We are repeating Rudeshiem, Cologne, and Amsterdam which we did on our Budapest to Amsterdam cruise.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 10, May 30, 2008 - Heidelberg
Greetings,
So, how would you like to wake up and be told that you were no longer German, but now French and back and forth. That is what happened to the people of Strasburg. It actually happened six different times in the course of their long history which, of course, started with the Romans. The old center of Strasburg is actually an island, so it was a perfect military camp for the Romans until they were defeated by the Barbarians. When you change your nationality, it means you must immediately change your language and customs. Since languages are very difficult for me, I would be in big trouble.
Storks are everywhere, and we learned our first “stork” story while in Breisach. The stork likes to build its nest on the top of churches. However in Strasburg, the storks were on all of the sycamore trees that lined the streets across from a huge park complete with a zoo. Anyway our guide in Breisach, who was an environmental activist, said that the stork follows a magnetic field and builds its nest on the strongest magnetic field possible. This is supposed to bring good health and the reason that pregnant women go and deliver their babies in a building where storks nest. Since childbirth in olden times was so dangerous, this was supposed to bring them good luck. I am going to have to research this magnetic field thing when I return home. Can’t waste our internet hours here researching magnetic fields! It may, however, prove to be a good science experiment.
This is another interesting stork story. People are trying to save the storks because they are becoming endangered. A stork will pick up anything to help build their nest. Some nests have proven to weigh over 800 pounds. The stork will use umbrellas, hats, etc. They also use plastic which proves to be fatal. The plastic holds water and when it rains it will drown the baby birds because it holds the water. The churches put up cameras to constantly view the nest, and when an attendant sees plastic in the nest, some brave soul climbs up and removes the plastic to protect the birds. Rather interesting.
Today was Heidelberg and the Heidelberg castle. Tom has posted photos of the castle. The city of Heidelberg was burned completely to the ground by the French who also blew up the castle. To rebuild the city, the people would go to the castle and tear down stones to use for rebuilding. Shortly after, history turned a corner and it was a French count that said the castle was too beautiful and historical to tear down. Today it is considered a protected ruin, which means the gardens are pristine along with the restaurants. We then had about an hour of free time and actually did a little shopping. Tom had another good German Beer and pretzel and I had German pizza which is cheese and bacon on a roll. Oh, will we need to go on the diet upon our return.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 11, May 31, 2008 - Rudesheim
Greetings,
Today was a stop into Rudesheim. We left the ship early and walked into town. We have this European thing down, walk everywhere. In town at the top of the hill, there is an open air cable car that you can take to the very top where there is a huge statue commemorating the end of the 30 Year War between France and Germany. The cable car travels over the numerous vineyards here in Germany. We were the first ones up, so we owned the mountain before the throngs of tourists descended upon us. Beautiful! We walked back into town for a little shopping and then I started my quest for German sausage. I was really thinking that I would miss out but then we found the perfect shop and had our first sausage of the trip. Delicious! I was very pleased and now am hoping to continue eating sausage in every German town we visit.
This afternoon we traveled what is considered the most beautiful part of the Rhine and also the most treacherous. This is the narrowest gorge on the Rhine where the river is 80 ft. deep with vortices and shallows around reefs just under the surface. There are many physical reasons for the numerous shipwrecks, but many prefer the story of the lovely Lorelei. It is said that when the sun or moon reflected off of the cliff into the swirling waters of the river, a voice was heard echoing through the rocky landscape. The hearts of countless men beat faster and trembled with delight. Sailors would sink into the waves and their bodies were never found.
This afternoon we are visiting Marksburg Castle. This castle is unique because it was never destroyed. References to the castle date back to the beginning of the 13th century
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 12, June 1, 2008 – Rudesheim & Cochem
Greetings,
The castle at Marksburg was spectacular. They kept telling us to please be in very good physical condition to take this tour because the tour included walks over huge cobblestones and many steep inclines, steep ragged steps and uneven ground. The incline was about 45 to 50 degrees uphill. They were not kidding. I made Tom pull me up the incline and everyone was really huffing and puffing when we reached the castle entrance. The steps to enter the castle were like mountain climbing. However, the castle was worth the physical effort. It must have been cold and damp inside those stone walls but what a view. Historic societies and museums can buy a German castle for around 500 Euros. As our guide said, that is cheap but then it takes millions to put them back in shape and to keep up. Many of the castles today are five star hotels and museums. I mentioned to our Alaskan bush friends that they should buy a castle and then write another book. I believe the look on their faces said that they had had their adventure, so no castle book will be forthcoming.
Today we are on the Mosel River which is much narrower than the Rhine. We visited a little city of Cochem which has 6,000 inhabitants and 3 million visitors in a year’s time. Six hundred thousand of those visitors spend more than one night. It was very laid back after yesterday’s castle tour.
We also visited a winery. We were told that the Germans are not allowed to grow red wine in most of the region only white. They are told the exact day they can harvest even though the farmer owns his own land. They are told whether to harvest grapes from the top or bottom of the plants. Since the vineyards are grown on slate rock, the rock holds the heat and keeps the grapes toward the bottom of the plant warmer producing sweeter grapes. We Americans would not like our government telling us exactly what we can do and when to do it. A different way to live!
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 13, June 2, 2008 – Cologne
Greetings,
People in Cologne on Sunday eat a lot and drink a lot. We drank a lot and ate a lot including a one meter (39 inch) sausage.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 14, June 3, 2008 – Arnhem – “A Bridge Too Far”
Greetings,
As Tom mentioned, yesterday we were in Cologne which is the fourth largest city in Germany. It has 2.1 million people, and I believe all of them were at the river’s edge because the weather was beautiful. Too many people for me! Cologne is a very industrial city with about 8,000 companies. Obviously, this makes it not very “green.”
Guides are interesting because you pick up on their personal views. Cologne’s guide was in stark contrast to our environmental activist. The locks on the river help prevent some flooding and also make the river more navigable. Since salmon cannot seem to learn how to use the locks, they have built ladders on the side of the locks for the fish to use. Since salmon are pretty good at fighting their way up stream, this seems to work. Fisheries keep the little ones until they are ready to go, and then turn them loose. I guess keeping them farm raised for a while enhances their chances of survival. Anyway they turn them loose, and the fish swim out into the North Sea. When ready to spawn, the salmon make their way back to the fishery using the steps built beside the locks. This costs 10’s of millions. You could tell our guide believed all of this to be ridiculously expensive to save fish. Possibly he is just not a fish eater!
We learned that the city, as well as others in this area, was started by the Romans 2000 years ago. I love the program on the Discovery Channel called “Cities Underground.” Yesterday we did our own discovery of the underground. Our guide showed us this fabulous mosaic floor built by the Romans. It is heated by underground hot air and can be used for entertaining dignitaries today. It was last used for the G-8 summit. Then in another area of Cologne, you can see the next underground city level, which was medieval. The last layer is the one today.
It was Sunday, so we could only stand in back of the great Cologne Cathedral. Mass was in progress, and I was able to video the organ playing and people singing. All I can say is, “Wow!” The acoustics cannot be described.
After our tour, I continued my German sausage quest. Both the ship and our guide recommended a riverside restaurant. That is where we ordered the meter long sausage (2 persons). We ate with several of the other passengers. I don’t believe I have ever eaten such a photographed meal. Fun!
We were in the city all afternoon, so with our Alaskan friends, we decided to walk around. She wears a pedometer, and by days end, we had walked 14,000 steps which equals 7 and a half miles. Today we dock in Arnhem and visit the war museum, Arhem is associated with one of the fiercest battles in the liberation of the Netherlands during World War II, when 3,000 British, Polish and Canadian lives were lost in three weeks of furious fighting. The Battle of Arnhem was one of the largest airborne operations during the war. The operation known as “Market Garden” aimed to bring the allies in a rapid thrust across the Rhine at Arhem to prevent German troops from taking the Rhine bridges. Although the Allies came within sight of Arnhem, they ultimately failed to hold the bridge. The battle was immortalized in the movie “A Bridge Too Far”.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 15, June 4, 2008 – Amsterdam
Greetings,
Yesterday was Arnhem. They explained the nine day battle at the bridge which crosses the Rhine. If the allies could have held the bridge, they could have liberated all the land east of the river. The allies had already liberated the land up to the river. As Tom wrote yesterday, they failed. Poor communication and poor intelligence was blamed. The allies were expecting a small contingent of Germans but instead were met by 33,000 Germans. Also, when they tried to drop supplies for the troops, 80% of the supplies fell into the hands of the Germans. This proved to be a tragic loss because the Germans remained in control. Twenty-two thousand people of the Netherlands starved that severe winter, not to mention the thousands of Jews, including Anne Frank, who met their demise at the hands of the Nazis. The battle was planned by Montgomery, so I am sure Patton felt that was the reason for the failure.
We traveled the three routes that the three different allied battalions tried. Only one battalion made it to the bridge. We also visited a church that ended up being a hospital for the wounded. The gentleman that talked about the war was eleven during the battle. He was so moving and thanked us for finally liberating his country. We then went to the hotel that ended up being the allied headquarters and is now a museum. Then, on to the cemetery where 1795 graves stand. Since there are fewer and fewer veterans still alive, the school children come every year and lay flowers on the graves. The cemetery is in perfect condition. The French never seem to thank us for saving them from Nazi control, but the people of the Netherlands say. “Thank you so much!”
We finally learned whether this country is called Holland or The Netherlands. The country’s name is The Netherlands. The Netherlands is divided into 12 provinces and two of its provinces are called Holland, North Holland and South Holland. Holland just seems to be a name we all know due to its exports. Our guide was excellent and told us that if you call a person from another province a Hollander, it is like calling someone from the Deep South a Yankee. Gas in the Netherlands is currently $10.20 a gallon, is this what we have to look forward to? This is why you only see very small cars. Tonight we are taking a tour through the Red Light District of Amsterdam, led by our ships cruise director. Should be very interesting to say the least.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 16, June 5, 2008 – Gouda & Schoonhovens
Greetings,
Yesterday was Amsterdam. The place where the coffee shops do not sell coffee and the Red Light District adds to the flavor of this city. Amsterdam is a city where everything and anything is possible. After dinner last night, our ship’s program director took us on a tour of the Red Light District. Pretty funny! He carried his sign “Viking River Cruises” ahead of the hundred or so of us who went along. Brave man to walk through that part of town with his sign! He got lots of comments from the coffee house (pot smoking) visitors and the young women with their wares on display. We did an abbreviated tour and only saw about 50 of the hundreds of women displaying their wares. As I said, a brave man! We did see a cool T Shirt in Amsterdam. One panel said “Good Bush” and had a picture of a Marihuana Plant and the next panel said “Bad Bush” and had a picture of George W. They do love their pot in Amsterdam.
We did our seven miles of walking yesterday, however. We did not take the normal tour as we had done that tour the last time we were here, so in the morning, we found a beautiful Delft ware store and did some shopping. I like to think a little longer than the ship usually gives you for shopping. After some minor souvenir shopping, we found a nice place for lunch, and I ate a Dutch pancake which is actually a form of a French crepe. Tom had Dutch split pea soup, which is also considered a local favorite. After lunch we returned to the ship and watched the amazing boat traffic dodging each other in the harbor. There were car ferries, huge barges, tour boats and little one and two man boats all trying to occupy the same space. An amazing sight! We were docked next to the Prinsendam, which is the first ship we took when we started our European Travels in 2004. This is the ship that we went from Athens to Rome on, and it sure brought back pleasant memories as we watched and photographed it as it pull out of port.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 17, June 6, 2008 – Rotterdam & Delft
Greetings,
Yesterday, silent death struck. That is what they call the bicyclists of the European cities. Bikes in the bike path absolutely have the right away. There was large tour group of about thirty people getting on the bus, and one of the bikes plowed right into a woman and threw her into the air. The front wheel of his bicycle was crumpled into oblivion so you can tell how hard she was hit. The bike driver was very angry, showed no sympathy for the woman he hit, and wanted her to pay 80 euro for his bike. He called the police, and the police came and spoke to our program director and the tour guide. I think Viking River Cruises will have to pay for the bike. If this was America, you know what the outcome would be.
We went to a Gouda cheese farm today. This was called farmer’s cheese. The difference is that regular cheese is made with pasteurized milk and farmer’s cheese is made with milk that comes right from the cow. We bought some for our first night’s dinner in Paris. After full meals three times a day, cheese, bread and wine is always a nice change. Besides what is more French than that? It was an interesting tour and they had a calf that was just one day old.
Then we went into town and our guide told us about the new herring crop that had just arrived. They were cleaning and selling them as fast as they could. Our guide bought one. They cover the cleaned fish with onions. You hold it up by the tail and eat away; each herring was about 5 inches long. After the guides demonstration, Tom had to give it a try. I have it recorded on video. He said it was great but he was still tasting herring two hours later.
Then it was onto Schoonhovens, which is the silversmith capital of the world. Fascinating shops!
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 18, June 7, 2008 – Brugge, Begium
Greetings,
Yesterday was Rotterdam and Delft. Rotterdam is an extremely modern city. During WWII, Hitler threatened to flatten the city unless they capitulated. At first they said, “No,” so on with the planes. The Netherlands did not have an army because they wanted to be like the Swiss – neutral. Except, Rotterdam has a fantastic harbor for all of Europe, which made it valuable. The Nazis sent their planes forward and Rotterdam surrendered. It is said that the Nazis tried to turn the planes around but the message, if there was one, never reached the pilots and the city was destroyed in one huge fire bomb. The only buildings that survived were the town hall, the post office, and the shell of the church. The city lay in ruins for five years. After the war and today, it is extremely modern. If a building becomes old fashion, it is immediately torn down and new, more modern one replaces it.
We also visited the city of Delft which is a preserved medieval city. Our guide for the last two days has been outstanding. Everything was delivered via water so you can see how the doors to each building were water level. Since the ground is so soft, many of the building lean in various directions.
He told us that The Netherlands has always had to be democratic even though it is a socialist country. If you pay taxes, you automatically belong to the water board. The water board decides the height of the water. Since that part of the Netherlands is swamp land far below sea level, the water must be pumped constantly or all of the land would flood. One farmer wants to grow potatoes so needs a certain water level, one wants this or that; well you can see the problem. Yet, there is always a workable solution as that year’s level of the water. Each year the people must complete this task of deciding the water level.
When we were in Gouda, they explained how the city developed. In the Middle Ages, it had a very small lock which every ship was required to pass through. There was of course a toll for this lock. Since it could take up to four days to pass through the lock, the women went to town to buy supplies. Later a canal was built around Gouda and no one bothered the town because it no longer had value. They say the town of Brugge is pretty much the same except deposits from the delta no longer kept Brugge as an important sea port.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 19, June 8, 2008 – Antwerp
Greetings,
So have you heard about the Big Mac Index? A professor in Gouda did a study of the prices of a Big Mac in all of the major cities of the world. He discovered that the more expensive the Big Mac the better quality of life in that city. Of course, I guess McDonald’s already has that info, or they wouldn’t have different prices in each city, although we have never eaten in a McDonalds in Europe and never will. I thought that made for an interesting science experment.
Yesterday was Brugge, Belgium. I will never complain about traffic again. The entire country is one big traffic jam. Roads and cars in every direction and this is with the gas price of $11+ per gallon! Unfortunately, we have had constant drizzle, so it took away from the picturesque image of the city. Our tour included lunch in the city and we had a Belgium waffle for dessert. The real cream on top was a delight. You could certainly tell that it was not Cool Whip. I guess I will have to go with real cream from now on.
Our Alaskan friends have proven to be very interesting. Lee has written two books, one about his Alaskan experience and one about Vietnam. He went to Alaska to escape his Vietnam War thoughts. He and his wife, Joan, lived there for sixteen years. They had no electricity, no running water, and no indoor plumbing. Can you imagine using an outhouse in 40 below zero weather? They finally got a radio after six years and had one radio station where personal messages could be sent to the “bush” people as they are called. They only went to the city every three months and mostly survived off of the land. Now he is like someone awakening from amnesia. You can tell he has missed sixteen years of what was taking place in the world. They now live in Arizona, and still do not have a TV. Our other closest associates on the ship are Italians from Chicago. What a contrast.
Today, Saturday, we arrived in Antwerp Belgium and unfortunately or fortunately for our credit card the Diamond Exchanges are closed on Saturday, so we had to settle for a city tour and a tour of the Art Museum with little time left over for shopping. This afternoon while passing out tips to my favorite bar staff that took such great care of Holly and I for the past two weeks, I learned why our insurance rates are so high. Next week the entire ship is chartered by a US insurance company for an Antwerp to Basel Cruise to award their high performers. This includes free booze every night so the bar staff hates it when they have 180 people every night trying to drink the ship dry. At least now I know that all of the money I pay for insurance goes to a good cause.
Tonight is the big Capitan’s farewell Dinner on the boat and we leave for Paris tomorrow morning.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 20, June 9, 2008 – Paris – We are on our way
Greetings,
After the first real glitch of the trip, we are finally on the bus and on our way to Paris. We were suppose to leave at 8:30 but unfortunately the bus company screwed up and didn’t arrive at the ship until 10:30, but at least they did make it and we should arrive in Paris around 3:30 this afternoon. Task one will be to find a wine store and get some wine and bread to go with some of the cheese we bought in Gouda. Holly and I had an unlimited wine, beer, and water package on the ship so we are currently having a wine withdrawal. We figure that we are probably $400 ahead if we had to buy our wine beer and water every day. I imagine after their experience with us, the ship will have to raise their rates for the booze package to recoup their money.
Last night was the Captain’s going away dinner and it ended with the traditional Baked Alaska parade and the normal tear jerking good byes to all the crew and passengers that we became so friendly with over the two weeks on the Viking Sun. The crew really was tremendous and definitely not looking forward to the one week life insurance charter group replacing us. This trip is a reward for their high performers. We did see some of the insurance people come on board as we were leaving and they started out rude and arrogant, so I can only imagine how they will be after a few drinks. The ship had several outstanding German, Czech, Holland and Belgium Beers on board and this intelligent group of high performers requested that the bar be stocked with Miller Genuine Draft. A good reason to come to Europe!
I am writing this to kill time as we are riding on the bus to Paris. Holly reminded me that if she ever suggests a bus tour to say, “No, Way!” but I reminded her that you couldn’t get me on a bus tour if you held a gun to my head. Riding the bus is really boring!! However, we have met people on this trip who love bus tours.
We arrived in Paris about 3 pm and took a walking tour and metro (subway) ride down to the Eiffel Tower and then a one hour boat tour as sort of an orientation. Our real tours start tomorrow. Internet in the hotel room is 25 Euro or $39.00 a day but wireless access in the lobby is free so you know where we will be sending our e-mails from, even though we are on the 12th floor. As we were sitting in the lobby bar checking e-mails we each ordered a glass of wine. It was an extremely small glass and the bill was 22 Euro or $33.00. No more wine from the lobby bar. I bought two bottles of wine and some French bread from a local grocery store to have with our Gouda Cheese in our room and the cost for both bottles and the bread was only 8 Euro or $12.50. The wine was great, actually better than what we had in the lobby bar, and the French Bread baked that morning was superb. I can only imagine what eating on the Eiffel is going to cost. I learned years ago to always travel with a cork screw.
More to follow,
Tom & Holly
Day 21, June 9, 2008 – Paris – The Final Day
Greetings,
Yesterday Holly was in her glory because we toured from 9:00 am until 6:00 pm. In the morning we went to the island of the original Paris “Ile de la Cite” and toured Sainte-Chapelle, an extremely ornate chapel built in the Palace of Louis IX to house the Crown of Thorns acquired in 1239 for a sum that greatly exceeded the cost of building the Chapel itself. Louis IX acquired the Crown of Thorns when he was in the Crusades.
We then toured Notre Dame Cathedral where the Crown of Thorns now resides under extremely tight security and is only displayed on the first Friday of each month and Good Friday. I don’t know if this was the actual Crown of Thorns put on Christ during the Passion, but the French sure believe it is including our guide. Notre Dame Cathedral is everything I expected it to be, extremely elegant, and of course I lit my candle. I have lit candles in half of the cathedrals in Europe. I guess that there are worse idiosyncrasies.
After a lunch of a large sandwich on great French bread bought in a sandwich/pastry shop and a glass of wine, we went to the Louvre. There are over 421,000 items displayed in the Louvre and Holly is determined to see every one of them, so I will probably see her sometime next September. Not really, we had a fantastic guide who was able to usher us around the crowds to see the most famous pieces including Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, numerous works by the great contemporary artist of the time and of course Leonardo de Vince’s Mona Lisa. Definitely a place I could spend more time. Last night we had a French dinner at a charming little French café recommended by our Viking Guide at the hotel. Paris is becoming a city that I am really starting to like and the French as a whole have been quite friendly and helpful.
Today we are taking the Metro to the Arch de Triumph, strolling down the Avenue Des Champs Elysees, of course stopping for some wine along the way, and dining on the upper level of the Eiffel Tower to celebrate our 39th Anniversary. Then depression will set in as we will have to come back to the hotel room to pack for our flight home tomorrow and going back to the world of reality. It seems like it was months ago that we were throwing snowballs at each other on top of Mount Titlus in Switzerland when in actuality it was only 3 weeks ago. Tomorrow we have an 11:30 flight from Paris arriving in Atlanta at 3:10 pm. We then have a 5:50 flight out of Atlanta and arrive in Orlando at 7:30 pm if everything is on time. This will probably be our last trip until February of 2009 when we have booked a 29 day adventure to Antarctica aboard a small Ice Breaker. Holly wants to see Antarctica it before it melts due to global warming. What does a retiree do with an abundance of time on his hands; he creates his own website where he can shamelessly brag about his travels. Here is a link to our new web site: http://www.tomjed.com/ Future trip blogs, pictures and videos will be posted on this website.
The end of another great adventure,
Tom & Holly
Epilogue
I can’t end this without saying a little bit about our meal at the “Le Jules Verne” on the upper level of the Eiffel Tower. It was just your everyday 285 Euro or $460.62 lunch. We opted for lunch over dinner because dinner would have been over $1000. Because I had made reservations 2 months in advance we had a table for two next to the window on the side of the Eiffel Tower that faced the Arch de Triumph and the Avenue Des Champs Elysees, it was a clear day and the view was fantastic. Every table in the place was taken, with reservations being made well in advance. The restaurant has a private elevator for those with reservations so there was no waiting in line. The meal, service and ambiance was everything you would expect from a five star restaurant and we were there for three hours so I guess it only cost $153.54 an hour. The meal was a four course meal, choice of three entrees, and the proper wine served with each course. I am glad we did it, although if I ever get back to Paris we probably wouldn’t do it again because there are so many great little intimate restaurants around Paris at a much more reasonable price. Reasonable being a very subjective thing because everything in Paris is extremely expensive. It will probably be a long time before we get back to Paris because there are so many other places we want to see before we start repeating.
More adventures to follow,
Tom & Holly